[Nhcoll-l] Fish curation in early 20th century

Tue Nov 28 02:36:24 EST 2017

Hi All,

this is a typical Sauerkraut crock - but honestly, never spotted these 
as specimen jars so far. At least not in Germany (even in very old 
historic collections).

Normally, those crocks are sealed by water-filled rims which would only 
need occasional refilling in a cool root cellar (which is the typical 
storage location for such stoneware). The rims of the lid and the 
container are uneven, to allow fermentation gases to escape through the 
water-filled grove if the inner pressure is high enough, which is one of 
the main features of these crocks.

Thus it is very surprising that they were used to produce a proper 
specimen container.

All the best
Dirk

Am 27.11.2017 um 18:42 schrieb Alexandra Snyder:
> Lindsay,
>
> The University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology fish and herp 
> collections also used these brown glaze stoneware crocks. Carl L 
> Hubbs, ichthyologist UMMZ 1920-1944 (collector of large numbers of 
> fishes) purchased them to house over-sized specimens, sometime in the 
> 1930's.  (Many of these have since been replaced by glass buckets or 
> stainless steel tanks.)  I was informed of this by Reeve M. Bailey, 
> Curator Emeritus (my mentor in fish collections curatorial technique) 
> and who worked with CL Hubbs as a student in the 30's and later as 
> Curator of Fishes until his retirement in 1981.  Reeve referred to 
> these as sauerkraut or pickle crocks and thought these were purchased 
> by the "truckload" directly from the manufacturer in Zanesville OH. 
> This made sense in that Zanesville is still know for its stoneware and 
> had a local market for its product with the farming communities and 
> German population of the US Midwest.
>
>  The other crock style (or a lid type that may have been mistakenly 
> purchased)  found in UMMZ fish collections  was referred to as a 
> "butter churn."  Same brown glaze and style as those in your photo but 
> the lid had a hole in the middle...and  I can't remember how that was 
> sealed, which was one of my duties while managing the UMMZ 
> collections: mix batches of beeswax and petroleum jelly (50/50), 
> remove the old beeswax sealant from the edge of crock and lid, and  
> apply new mix to get a seal.  (Not my favorite job.)
>
> I have replaced these crocks with stainless steel tanks from two 
> different collections over the past thirty something years.  I suspect 
> these were used in many fish and herp collections throughout the US.
>
> Thank you for bringing up an interesting history in museum curatorial 
> practice.
>
> Lex
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 7:02 AM, Bloch,Lindsay 
> <lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu <mailto:lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu>> 
> wrote:
>
>     Hello,
>
>
>     I am seeking information on ceramic storage vessels used for
>     housing fish specimens in the 20th century. Here at the Florida
>     Museum we have a number of large stoneware crocks (see attached
>     images) that were used for oversized specimens before large glass
>     jars were widely available. The crocks came to us in the late
>     1970s with the collection of Ralph Yerger. He obtained his PhD
>     from Cornell, and we have reason to believe that some of his
>     initial collection may have originated there, including these vessels.
>
>
>     Our crocks are similar in form to those used for food fermentation
>     (pickles/sauerkraut/meat), with a water well in the rim that could
>     produce an airlock. In the museum, they were sealed with beeswax
>     to reduce evaporation. It is unclear whether they are repurposed
>     fermentation crocks, or if they were made intentionally for museum
>     curation. They are molded, using a buff/cream colored
>     stoneware clay, with brown Albany Slip on the interior and
>     exterior. The matching lids were wheel-thrown. They are 24” tall
>     and 12” diameter. There are no maker's marks or capacity marks of
>     any kind. Unfortunately, late 19th-early 20th century industrial
>     pottery has not received much scholarly attention, so it is
>     difficult to track down, especially without maker's marks. 
>
>
>     I'm trying to learn where these vessels were produced, and whether
>     they were widely used or a Cornell-centered idiosyncrasy. Given
>     the history of pottery production and fermented foods, I'm
>     currently thinking that the northeastern US is a likely origin,
>     though the form has precursors in Europe,
>     especially Germany. Please let me know if you have seen these or
>     other similar ceramic vessels for housing museum collections. You
>     may reach me off-list at lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu
>     <mailto:lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu>. Thanks for any help you can
>     provide.
>
>
>     Best,
>     Lindsay
>
>     Lindsay Bloch, Ph.D.
>     Collections Manager
>     Ceramic Technology Laboratory
>     Florida Archaeological Collections
>     Florida Museum of Natural History
>     Dickinson Hall
>     University of Florida
>     Gainesville, FL 32611
>     lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu <mailto:lbloch at floridamuseum.ufl.edu>
>     (352) 273-1924 <tel:%28352%29%20273-1924>
>
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> -- 
> *****************************************************
> Alexandra M Snyder
> Collections Manager-Fishes
> Museum of Southwestern Biology MSC01-2020
> University of New Mexico
> Albuquerque NM 87131 USA
>
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